SAN BERNARDINO – Another apartment complex at the Meridians was torn to shreds Friday morning when a demolition crew knocked a four-plex down in a matter of minutes.

The demolition contractors employed an excavator that looked something like a metal Tyrannosaurus Rex as its grapple crunched, chewed and otherwise pulverized the complex’s wood and plaster materials.

Friday’s demolition was the latest in a series of tear-down jobs at the Meridians, a cluster of 18 Westside apartments the San Bernardino redevelopment officials want to erase from the city’s landscape.

The work comes a little more than a year after the City Council first greenlighted the redevelopment plan. What will replace the Meridians is not yet known, as San Bernardino officials plan to eventually consider proposals from developers.

The law will require some of the new construction to comply with affordable housing requirements.

In terms of demolition, a quartet of four-plexes have already been torn down. Friday morning’s activity destroyed the first of another five apartment complexes that are destined for the scrap heap.

San Bernardino officials have said deemed the Meridians a focus for crime and blight, and the neighborhood’s remaining residents are not exactly satisfied with living conditions there.

“When they tear them down, you can see why they get so cold or so hot because they’re not insulated worth a damn,” resident Alynn McGinnis said Friday morning as he watched the demolition crew at work.

Insulation isn’t the only concern for the people who live at the Meridians, which are located near the city’s western boundary with Rialto at the crossing of Fifth Street and Meridian Avenue.

Residents said Friday that bedbugs are a persistent problem at the apartments. Abbie Coleman said she’s a mother of five children and that she is tired of her family being pestered by hungry insects.

“My kids sleep on the floor because I don’t want to put no beds in there,” Coleman said.

Residents said Friday they also want to know details of redevelopment officials’ relocation plans for Meridians tenants. The law requires residents who are to be moved out of their dwellings to receive financial help.

“They’re not telling us when we’re getting any hope of getting out of here,” resident Carl Williams said.

As of Friday, the buildings where people still reside are not yet in San Bernardino officials’ control.

The City Council, acting in its role to oversee the San Bernardino Economic Development Agency, on Monday approved a relocation plan for the Meridians. The plan authorizes EDA officials to spend about $365,000 to help tenants move. The assistance package could vary widely from tenant to tenant.

Once the five complexes slated for demolition in the current round of work are gone, nine four-plexes will remain.

Carey Jenkins, the EDA’s director of housing and community development, said his agency plans to ask the council for authority to acquire those buildings in October.

“My sincere hope is that we can have all the properties acquired or in the process of being acquired within this fiscal year,” Jenkins said.

Andrew Edwards covers business and higher education for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He has previously covered City Hall in Long Beach. He has spent his entire career in Southern California, having worked at publications including the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Sun and Daily Pilot before coming to Long Beach. He graduated from UCLA in 2003 after studying political science and history.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.